A common complaint I hear from people is that they don't have enough time to put helpful marketing strategies into action in their business.

So the theme of this column is to share some simple marketing strategies that you can put into action in less than three minutes of your time.

Let's get started...

Three Minute Marketing Strategy One:

Phone up one of your best customers or clients each work day and thank them for supporting your business. This will take around 2-3 minutes to do.

Just say something like this:

Hi Jane, it's John here from XYZ business. I just wanted to make a quick phone call and say thanks for being one of our best clients. I hope things are going well for you this month and best wishes for the rest of the year ahead.

If your client is not in, just leave a similar message on their voice mail.

If you did this ten times in a month you've invested half an hour of your time. You've also made ten clients feel a bit more appreciated because they have been personally thanked for their business.

I had an interesting experience in a marketing seminar many years ago.

The seminar presenter invited us to do a similar exercise and phone up ten clients in a week. We were to personally thank each person for being a customer and notice what happens when we did this.

I rang up ten clients and thanked them for their business. Even though I had no other reason for the phone calls I ended up with new business from two clients and a couple of good referrals from another client.

All were glad to hear from me and appreciated my phone call.

Three Minute Marketing Strategy Two:

Send a hand written note of appreciation to one of your best clients or contacts.

You might say something like this:

Hi John,

Just a quick note to thank you for being a client. I really appreciate it. Kind regards, Jane Smith.

By the time you handwrite their name and address on an envelope, put on a stamp and then write your note you've taken about 3 minutes.

As I've mentioned in a number of my Herald columns, hand written notes of appreciation are very rare today and are always remembered by the people who get them.

You can write a note to thank people for a referral, some positive feedback, their interest in your product or service and also for spending money with you.

If you did this ten times a month you've invested only half an hour of your time and you now have over 100 people a year who remember you in a very positive way.

I recall meeting the managing director of a well-known car manufacturer a few years ago.

Two days after our meeting I received a delightful hand written note from this person thanking me for my time. The note was on a company letterhead and was about 5 sentences long. Yet I still remember it very clearly because it was handwritten and made me feel special.

Three Minute Marketing Strategy Three:

Write down 5-10 answers to this question:

What is something simple we could do this week that would differentiate our business in a positive way from many of our competitors?

You should be able to come up with at least five answers in three minutes.

Then take action on one of these answers each week.

You are now putting into action each week something that will give you a competitive advantage in the market place. (All in less than three minutes.)

Three minutes is not a lot of time.

However it's more than enough time to get started with a number of helpful marketing strategies.

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time. - Leonard Bernstein

Action Exercise:Try any of these 'three minute marketing' strategies in your own business and see how they work.

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 27 countries.) You can email him at the link above.

Graham has had 36 years 'hands on' experience in sales and marketing. He has sold a range of services including advertising, sales training, personal development, life insurance, IT services, investment property and business consulting services.